Travelin' Soldier
by Wolf of Summer
Summary: Based on the song "Travelin' Soldier" by the Dixie Chicks. Suzaku goes off to war and Lelouch eagerly awaits his letters, right up until the last one. Suzaku/fem!Lelouch


Inspired by "Travelin' Soldier" by the Dixie Chicks. This is a song about the Vietnam War, if you haven't heard it, so I've fit Suzaku into that. You can ignore the mentions of places and put him anywhere you'd like, though. (I highly recommend listening to it.)

Lelouch=girl. With the name Lelouch. Deal with it.

* * *

The brown haired boy walked into the little diner, determined to have one more taste of real food that wasn't from a package before he was sent to the front lines. He sat down at a small table, shifting uncomfortably in his new army camo uniform as he stared out the window, trying to take in all the peace before he was thrown into chaos.

A silky voice behind him asked "What's your fancy?"

The soldier turned to see who had asked. His first impression was of a scrawny girl, no older than sixteen. His second was of beautiful black hair tied at the back of her neck with a violet bow. Then his eyes were drawn to the stunning violet eyes that were studying him just as hard as he was her.

The mouth below those eyes opened and said "I'm Lelouch. You?"

"Suzaku. Suzaku Kururugi."

"Off to war?"

Suzaku flinched. "Drafted. Turned eighteen two days ago."

Lelouch smiled softly at him, and suddenly the soldier felt a lot more reassured. "Do you mind sitting and talking for a while? It'll be a while before I can just relax like this, and I'm feeling a bit…lonely."

Lelouch cast her eyes around and leaned down. "I'm off in an hour. I know where we can go."

* * *

Seagulls cawed as the two teens watched the sun set. They talked and laughed about everything but the war. Held hands, and tried to remember the days before the only thing on the nightly news was violence.

When the time came for Suzaku to leave, he turned to Lelouch.

"Listen, I know you probably have a boyfriend, but I don't care. I don't have anyone to write to." It was true, his father had died and the war and his mother in childbirth. He'd lived in an orphanage for eight years. "Do you mind if I write to you?"

Lelouch smiled and pecked him on the cheek, slipping her number and address in his hand as he boarded the bus to leave.

* * *

With every letter that came in, Lelouch would grin and rush up to her room to write back immediately. She ignored her parents, her friends who told her she was too young for him, that nothing would ever come of this.

When summer dances rolled around, she turned down anyone who asked her to go.

"I'm taken." She explained. And she was, for she and Suzaku had decided, through many exchanged letters, that they wanted to be a couple when Suzaku got back.

She cherished every letter he wrote, kept them in a special locked box under her bed. White stationary letters postmarked from a training camp, followed by grubby fingerprinted pieces of paper that were short and sweet and to the point, postmarked from blacked out places on the front lines. She loved these letters, loved that she could place her fingers where his had been and remember the warmth of his hand as she'd once felt it.

The box also contained a copy of his dog tags, from his brief training period. "I told them I lost mine and got them to get me a new pair. These are mine from training. They're all I have right now, but I hope you'll accept them in place of a promise ring."

* * *

Sometimes Lelouch would remember phrases from Suzaku's letters and she'd whisper them to herself over and over at school. By the time he'd left for the front lines, she'd taken to wearing his dog tags under her shirt, endlessly checking to make sure they were still there, whispering his name under her breath. Wishing for his safety. His name. _Suzaku. Suzaku Kururugi. _

A prayer.

* * *

Senior year was a couple months in, and Lelouch had the latest mantra repeating in her head as she promised her friends that she'd come to the football game with them that night.

"When it gets rough over here, I just close my eyes and think of you. Think of us, and that time down on the pier. Your beautiful smile and the feel of your lips on my cheek.

They've told me I'll be coming back home again soon. I'll see you, and we can go out to dinner, and this time you won't have to wait to get off of work for us to talk.

Don't worry, but I won't be able to write for a while.

I miss you. I love you.

-Suzaku"

* * *

It would have been a Friday night football game like any other. It should have been. For the rest of her life, Lelouch would wish she could deny that she'd been there, that she could pretend it hadn't happened.

The anthem played as normal. It was shaping up to be a grand day, until the announcer came on and said somberly

"Folks, please remove your hats and bow your heads for the list of local Vietnam dead."

Poor Lelouch suddenly knew what was going to happen, so she excused herself from her friends and went under the stands so that she could have some privacy and wait for that horrible, horrible moment.

"Robert Jeb. Age 20.

Chester Kale. Age 27.

Mark Kerobin. Age 22."

And Lelouch almost missed the one name she desperately did not want to hear as she choked out a strangled sob, clutching the dog tags around her neck with a death grip.

"Suzaku Kururugi. Age 18."

_I-I-I cried_

_Never gonna hold the hand of another guy  
Too young for him they told her  
Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier  
Our love will never end  
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again  
Never more to be alone when the letter said  
A soldier's coming home_

* * *

I'd appreciate any reviews or corrections since I wrote this in about an hour.

Thanks!


End file.
